Please contact the Governor and ask him to support SB744 in it's entirety. Any amendatory veto will kill the bill.

Residents of other states are urged to call or write, too. There are many people from out of state who race in Illinois, and many more of you would if we had better purses. That's what Quinn needs to hear, that people from out of state would send horses here if the bill passes.

If you are an out of state gambler, make the point that you would bet the Chicago circuit if the purses were bigger because the quality of racing would be better.

I guess what I'm asking is for every member of Barn to Wire to please call or write.

Bernie, I and many of my family and friends have already written and called the Governor. Hopefully everyone involved in harness racing will take a little bit of time to do the same. Governor Quinn has indicated that he wants to hear from the people, so we should let him hear our opinions.This is really our last chance in Illinois.

Along those lines a number of Illinois media outlets are conducting polls and surveys. They are usually simple enough to encourage participation, but not sufficiently detailed to truly address the situation. As a result, the potential answers can often be misleading. Sometimes the question and the available responses are created in such a way that ensures the result desired by the pollster.

One such example is running on Facebook now.

Romeoville Patch asked Is more legalized gambling good or bad for Illinois?

Bad — it will cause more problems than it will solve.

Good — the state needs money.

No opinion.

I would pose the question this way. "Illinois already permits legalized gambling in a highly controlled and regulated fashion. Is an expansion of gambling an acceptable alternative to the current situation - including a multi-billion dollar deficit, double digit unemployment, reduced funding for schools, the elimination of social services, a decaying infrastructure, and a massive "temporary" income tax increase in our state?"

I think the poll results would be considerably different although both questions address the same issue. My point, my point is that we need to rally not only the horsemen. This bill will have a direct, or indirect, effect on virtually everyone in Illinois - from teachers and health care providers to the kids in 4H, construction workers, etc - not just horsemen.

I believe that the impact of SB 744 will be a positive one on virtually every Illinois citizen, except (perhaps) the owners of the existing riverboats...and oh yeah, I guess I forgot the existing riverboats aren't really owned by Illinois citizens anyway.

I wrote him and asked for his support. I pointed out how many other industries not related to gambling will benefit. Take me for example. My business washes horse blankets. More horses equals more blankets to wash equals more revenue eventually to the state. Now, the only thing is you all have to get your blankets washed now!

Please contact the Governor and ask him to support SB744 in it's entirety. Any amendatory veto will kill the bill.

Residents of other states are urged to call or write, too. There are many people from out of state who race in Illinois, and many more of you would if we had better purses. That's what Quinn needs to hear, that people from out of state would send horses here if the bill passes.

If you are an out of state gambler, make the point that you would bet the Chicago circuit if the purses were bigger because the quality of racing would be better.

I guess what I'm asking is for every member of Barn to Wire to please call or write.

I have written him and sent him about 10 big copies of harness racing from photos I took at the fair tracks and Chicago. I also mailed him a copy of my children's book about a harness horse. My thinking was if he actually had something in his hand to look at and identify with our sport, it may stick with him. My friends and family have also flooded his office with phone calls and emails and we all live in the Peoria area - which has a riverboat and made sure we told him that but needed the bill signed as it stands. The people taking the calls at both offices have been great. I would agree-I think the snail mail letters would have a good impact as well.

Please contact the Governor and ask him to support SB744 in it's entirety. Any amendatory veto will kill the bill.

Can someone tell me why an amendatory veto will kill the bill? Isn't that a coditional veto? For example, he can decide expanding slots at the two airports and Springfield may be too much and want to veto that; it still doesn't stop it from the existing tracks.

My understanding is the legislature would have the option to override his conditional veto, but I assumed if they didn't the bill would go into effect. Am I wrong?

If Quinn uses the amendatory veto, the bill needs to be voted on again or it dies. Depending on what he vetos will cost the bill the support of those legislators who only voted for it based on those additions. A bill needs 30 votes to pass and that is exactly what we got, so losing any vote kills the bill.

It also extends the time until the bill takes effect, because another vote probably will not happen until the fall session. And, apparently the legislative PTB do not like the amendatory veto, and do not re-call bills on which it has been used.

If Quinn uses the amendatory veto, the bill needs to be voted on again or it dies. Depending on what he vetos will cost the bill the support of those legislators who only voted for it based on those additions. A bill needs 30 votes to pass and that is exactly what we got, so losing any vote kills the bill.

It also extends the time until the bill takes effect, because another vote probably will not happen until the fall session. And, apparently the legislative PTB do not like the amendatory veto, and do not re-call bills on which it has been used.

Have called and e-mailed the gov letting him know that my money from out of state-~200K over the past seven years will go elsewhere if the bill is not signed. My opinion-he will sign it as is because the mayor wants it. If he lines it out, he will not get the downstate votes to pass it this fall. Hope my reasoning is valid. Pork, Joplin MO.

Three hundred letters mailed tonight from the meeting. If we had a bigger turnout we could have made the 500 letter mark. If you couldn't come to meeting there will be a form letter soon available at the IHHA website for download for your use. Please use it and mail to Governor Quinn. All info available at website.

Three hundred letters mailed tonight from the meeting. If we had a bigger turnout we could have made the 500 letter mark. If you couldn't come to meeting there will be a form letter soon available at the IHHA website for download for your use. Please use it and mail to Governor Quinn. All info available at website.

Thanks Donna.Someone should pass this letter out to the fans at Maywood/Balmoral and OTB's.

keep calling. don't get lazy. the boats have their people calling daily and the governor wants to hear from the people.everyone has the #s to call. lets finish this thing off. too close to get lazy now.

Just found a way to get our message to the Governor. He has opened a Twitter account. If you have an account, lets overload the circuits. Tweet to @GovernorQuinn " Please sign the gaming bill as soon as possible"